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Bruce Oliver, Ph.D.

Accounting
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Bruce Oliver, Ph.D.

Professor

Contact Information

Office Location: LOW-3319
Office Phone: 585-475-6668
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Staff Assistant Phone: 585-475-6063
Fax: 585-475-6920

Biography

Professor Oliver received his Ph.D. in Accounting from the University of Washington in 1969. Prior to that he earned his Masters of Business Administration and his Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Cincinnati in 1964 and 1965, respectively.

Dr. Oliver arrived at RIT in September, 1985 and is a tenured full professor of accounting. He has previously taught at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the State University of New York at Albany, the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Washington. He has published in a wide variety of journals such as the Journal of Business Ethics, the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of the Academy of Management, and Decisions Sciences. Dr. Oliver's current scholarly interest is in the area of professional ethics, with an emphasis on accounting. He has served RIT in many and varied governance activities including serving as the Chair of the RIT Faculty Council and the RIT Academic Senate, which replaced the Faculty Council. Subsequently he served five years as the first chair of RIT's Institute Intellectual Property Committee. As one of the principle authors of the policy it was natural for him to serve to implement the new policy.

He has also been the Associate Dean of the College of Business and the Chairman of the Accounting Department. Dr. Oliver served as the Director of the Saunders College of Business Institute for Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility.

Dr Oliver's primary teaching interest is in the financial accounting area, from the introductory course through the advanced accounting course; however, he also teaches undergraduate and graduate ethics classes. Two unique classes he has personally designed and teaches are Legal and Ethical Issues in Technology Intensive Environments [Undergraduate and Graduate].

Education

  • Ph.D., Accounting, University of Washington, 1969
  • M.B.A., Accounting, University of Cincinnati, 1965
  • B.B.A, Accounting, University of Cincinnati, 1964

Experience

  • Interim Accounting Coordinator -- Saunders College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 2005-2007
  • Director, Saunders College of Business, Institute for Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility -- Rochester Institute of Technology, 1998-2009
  • Accounting Team Leader -- Accounting Team, College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1997-1999
  • Chair, RIT Academic Senate -- Rochester Institute of Technology, 1995-1996
  • Chair, RIT Faculty Council -- Rochester Institute of Technology, 1994-1995
  • Treasurer -- RIT Faculty Council, 1992-1994
  • Associate Dean -- College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1988-1991
  • Chairman, Department of Accounting -- College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1986-1988
  • Professor of Accounting -- College of Business, Rochester Institute of Technology, 1985-Present
  • Associate Professor of Accounting -- School of Management, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 1982-1985
  • Director of Accounting Development -- School of Business, SUNY@Albany, 1980-1982
  • Accounting Area Coordinator -- School of Business, SUNY@Albany, 1976-1980
  • Associate Professor -- School of Business, SUNY@Alabany, 1975-1982
  • Assistant Professor -- The Wharton School, The University of Pennsylvania, 1969-1975
  • Instructor -- College of Business Administration, University of Washington, 1965-1968

Expertise [expertise maps]

  • Accounting
  • Accounting: financial
  • Administrative ethics
  • Business and public ethics
  • Business ethics
  • Corporate social responsibility
  • Ethics
  • Ethics: business and society
  • Management: ethics
  • Organizational ethics

Professional Memberships

  • American Accounting Association
  • American Accounting Assoication, ABO Section

Awards

  • Lifetime Membership, American Accounting Assoication, 2008
  • Accounting Hall of Fame, American Accounting Association, Northeast Region, 1994
  • Beta Gamma Sigma, National Scholastic Honorary, University of Washington Chapter, 1967-1968
  • Beta Alpha Psi , National Scholastic Honorary Society, University of Cincinnati Chapter, 1964

Research Interests & Research in Progress

  • Business and Asset Valuations
  • Ethics in accounting and business, or the lack thereof.
  • Ethics in technologically intensive environments
  • Ethics of Point Estimate Income Statements in an Uncertain Environment
  • Explicit reporting accounting uncertainties in financial reports.
  • Personal values and business ethics.
  • Reporting Uncertainty in Financial Statements: A Teaching Exercise

Publications


Refereed Journal Articles

  • Sole Author, Journal of Business Ethics -- Comparing Corporate Managers' Personal Values Over Three Decades: 1967-1995, 147, 1999
  • The Journal of Services Marketing -- Managing Partial Benefit Marketing: New Perspectives on Continuing Concerns, with Eugene H. Fram, 29, April, 1998
  • Business Forum -- The Influence of Competition and Corporate Capital Investment Behavior, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, Irene Jaimez and Paul Meising, 22, January, 1998
  • Professional Ethics, A Multidisciplinary Journal -- Moral Issues in Accounting, with Wade Robison, 3-11, 1996
  • Research on Accounting Ethics -- Commentaries on "Integrating Ethics Exercizes into Intermediate Accounting" and on "The Impact of Ethics Education in Accounting Curricula", 221, 1996
  • International Journal of Management -- On the Role of Competitive Industries in Determining Economic Progress, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, 215, June, 1987
  • Business & Society -- Intra-Industry Performance Comparison and Industrial Concentration, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, April, 1986
  • The Northeast Journal of Business & Economics -- Replacement Cost Estimate of Return in Investigating the Concentration-Profits Relationship, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt and Sudro Brown, 50, July, 1985
  • International Journal of Management -- An Assessment of Accounting Standards Overload for Small Business, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, 76, March, 1985
  • American Journal of Small Business -- The Productive Efficiency and Employment Implications of the SBA;s Definition of Small, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, 46, January, 1984
  • Atlantic Economic Journal -- Industry Structure and Technological Advancement at the Implementation Stage, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, September, 1983
  • Journal of Small Business Management -- Big GAAP, Little GAAP: Financial Reporting in the Small Business Environment, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, 52, July, 1983
  • The CPA Journal -- Full and Fair Accreditation Standards, 12, April, 1980
  • The Accounting Journal -- Behavioral Research in Accounting: An Overview of What's Been Happening, with Martin Bariff and Bobby Calder, 40, April, 1977
  • Journal of Accounting Research -- The Semantic Differential: A Device for Measuring the Interprofessional Communication of Selected Concepts, 299, October, 1974
  • Omega -- Perceived Importance of "Social Goals" in Business Organiztions, with Edward J. Lusk, 553, October, 1974
  • Academy of Management Journal -- American Managers' Personal Value Systems-Revisited, with Edward J. Lusk, 549, June, 1974
  • The CPA Journal -- A Look at Some Key Concepts of Accounting, 26, April, 1974
  • Journal of Banking Research -- Selected Insights on Bankers' Loan Decisions, 311, December, 1973
  • Decision Sciences -- A Look at the Semantic Defferential as a Tool to Assist Faculty Teaching Evaluations, 549, October, 1973
  • Journal of Accounting Research -- A Study on Confidence Interval Financial Statements, 154, April, 1972
  • American Institute of Decision Sciences Annual Convention -- Game Theoretic Interpretation of Non-profit Objectives in a Profit Environment-Comments, October, 1971

Refereed Conference Proceedings

  • Contributions to Practice, Sole Author, Proceedings, Northeast Business & Economics Association -- Another Ingredient Contributing to Recent Audit Failures: A Study Providing Insights on Management Integrity, October, 2003
  • American Accounting Association National Meeting -- Replacement Cost Estimate of Return in Investigating the Concentration-Profits Relationship, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt and Sudro Brown, August, 1985
  • Eastern Academy of Management Meeting -- The Influence of Competition and Corporate Capital Reinvestment Behavior During Inflationary Periods, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt and Paul Meising, May, 1985
  • Small Business Research Conference -- Risk Perspectives on New High-Technology Firms, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, May, 1984
  • Atlantic Economic Journal -- Discussion on "Forecasting Military Enlistment Rates with Financial Market Indicators", March, 1984
  • Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association -- On the Efficacy of Using the Semantic Differential on Accounting Terminology, April, 1982
  • Midwest Conference, american Institute of Decision Sciences -- Information Integration Theory Applied to Financial Analysts Attitudes About the Income Statement and the Balance Sheet, April, 1977
  • Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association -- Deductive Reasoning, High Levels of Abstraction and Circular Reasoning in Accounting Terminology, April, 1975
  • American Institute of Decision Sciences Annual Convention -- A Model of a Dual Valuation Approach to Financial Reporting, November, 1973
  • Northeast Conference, American Institute of Decision Science -- A Study of the Identification and Measurement of Stress Points Between Personal Values and Perceived Organizational Values, April, 1973
  • Proceedings, Southeast Conference -- The Permanent Income Hypothesis as a Behavioral Explanation for Purported Income Smoothing, March, 1972

Books (including Instructional Textbooks)

  • Edition of selected papers from the RIT sponsored Second Conference in Accounting Ethics, -- Professional Ethics: A Multidisciplinary Journal, with Wade Robison, 1996
  • -- Food Stamp Outreach and Nutrition Education in Amalgamated County: A Noncompliance Problem, Case and Teaching Notes, Management Case Studies II, 1981

Other

  • Contributions to Practice, Equal Author, Dividend World -- Want to Avoid Frad? Look to Your Board, with Dr. Eugen Fram, Professor Emeritis, RIT, September, 2010
  • Atlantic Economics Journal -- Discussion on "The Upward Mobility of The MicroComputer", March, 1985
  • Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association -- An Evaluation of the Significance of Replacement Cost Disclosures in an Industrial Economic Setting, with Jeffrey W. L, April, 1984
  • Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting of the American Accounting Association -- Big GAAP--Little GAAP: Are There Sufficient Differences in the Small Business Environment to Differentiate Financial Reporting, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, April, 1983
  • Small Business Research Conference -- An Examination of the Appropriateness of Differential Financial Reporting Standards for Small Business, with Jeffrey W. Lippitt, March, 1983
  • American Institute of Decision Sciences Annual Convention -- Financial Statement Footnotes: An Investigation into the Causes of Readability Problems, with Donald F. Arnold and Linda Kinney, November, 1978
  • 1973 Conference on Empirical Research in Accounting -- Discussion on the Effect of Aggregating Accounting Reports on the Lending Decision: An Empirical Investigation, 143, 1973
  • American Institute of Decision Sciences Annual Convention -- Accounting Educators and Practitioners in Agreement or Disagreement on Key Accounting Concepts, November, 1972
  • American Institute of Decision Sciences Annual Convention -- The Crucial Conflict Between Business and Society: Is a Positive Solution Possible?, November, 1972

Unpublished Conference Presentations

  • The Impact of Professional Estimation, Assumptions, and Judgments on Financial Reporting: A Teaching Exercise, AAA Northeast Regional Meeting, 2008
  • Ethical challenges for Small Business Owners, Small Business Conference, 2008
  • Ethical Leadership, Connectology Conference, 2007
  • Reporting Financial Information Beyond A Single Measure of Central Tendency: An Idea Revisitied and a Case Example, AAA Northeast Regional Meeting, 2007
  • Into the Breach: Individuals and the Organization, Sixth Annual Expressions of Diversity Conference "ethical and Honorable Behavior, 2007
  • Ethics in Accounting, Career Opertunities in the Accounting Profession, 2007
  • Ethics in Accounting, Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession, 2006
  • Ethical Implications of IT, Access and Accountability--Ethical Implications of IT, 2006
  • Ethic in Accounting, Career Opportunities in the Accounting Profession, 2005
  • Hurricane Ethics--The Storm, 2004 Rochester Human Resource Conference & Exposition, 2004
  • Accounting Ethics in the 21st Century, NYSSCPA/FAE/McGraw-Hill Educator's Conference, 2003
  • Panel (invited) , AAA Northeast Regional Meeting, 2003
  • “HR, It’s Not the Same Game Anymore,” afternoon session on "Ethical Considerations, Genesee Valley Society of Human Resource Managers and Rochester Business Alliance Conference, 2003
  • "Suggestions for Improving Tarnished Corporate Ethics", 1370 Connection WXXI, 2002
  • “The Personal Values of the CPA’s Corporate Clients: How They Could Influence Independent Audits” , AAA Northeast Regional Meeting, 2000
  • “Examining the Decision Process of Individuals Facing the Temptation to Cheat, Discussant, AAA Northeast Regional Meeting, 2000
  • "A Brief History of Undergraduate Grades at RIT: An Informal Inquiry for the Purpose of Discussion", RIT Faculty Colloquim, 1996

Externally Funded Contracts/Grants/Research

  • Professional and Ethical Issues in Underreporting and/or Underutilizing Available and/or Obtainable Information About Accounting's Inherent Uncertainty Caused by Ubiquitous Estimates and Judgments -- , RIT, Saunders College, $,
  • Submitted/denied-- “Research Integrity in Predominately Undergraduate Institutions of Higher Education” -- Roy Rodenhiser, National Institute of Health, Office of Research Integrity, $,
  • Personal Value Structure-Revisited -- , College of Business Summer Research Grant RIT, $,
  • No titles -- , Wharton School Accounting Department Research Fund 1970, 1972, 1973, $??,

Consulting

  • New York State Sociatey of Certified Public Accountants, Rochester NY, Professional ethic and compliance issues to Rochester area CPA's for 2 credit hours of certified professional education (CPE)., 2008 - Ongoing
  • Office and Building Managers Association, Federal District Court Building, Main Street, Rochester, Presented the Association's short ethics course., 2004 - 2004
  • American Accounting Association, Behavioral Section, American Accounting Association, Ad hoc reviewer for BREA journal, 0 - Ongoing